1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an operating device that superimposes an image of a hand of a user operating an operating portion on an operation menu image.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a known vehicle-mounted appliances switch safety operating system characterized by including: a multifunction switch operation plate in which a plurality of kinds of switches for actuating or operating various vehicle-mounted appliances are arranged in a concentrated manner; a display that is disposed at a suitable position in the vehicle within a visual field region such that the operator can see the display by looking forward and that displays in its screen an image of the arrangement of the switches, and a controller as follows. That is, when the operator operates a target one of the switches with a finger, the controller has the operator recognize the position and the function of the image of the target switch displayed in the screen of the display on the basis of a detection signal that is generated when the target switch is sensed. This safety operation system allows the operator to visually recognize the image of the target switch displayed in the display while looking forward, and also allows the operator to operate the target switch in the multifunction switch operation plate with the finger in real time (e.g., see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-6687 (JP-A-2000-6687).
There is also a known operating device that includes: a touch panel type display in which switches that the operator operates by touching are provided in a display screen; and a reflecting optical system having a first mirror means whose reflection surface is directed to the user; second mirror means that reflects the image displayed in the touch panel type display as a reflected image to the reflection surface of the first mirror means (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-335510 (JP-A-2005-335510)). In this operating device, the picture screen displayed in the touch panel type display that is touch-operated by a user is displayed to the user via the reflecting optical system made up of the first and second mirror means.
In the construction of the prompter system as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-6687 (JP-A-2000-6687), the picture of a hand of a user operating the operating portion is taken by a camera, and the image of the hand is superimposed on the operation menu image displayed by the display portion. Therefore, this construction facilitates the so-called blind-touch operation of vehicle-mounted appliances.
However, in the construction of the prompter system as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-6687 (JP-A-2000-6687), the image of the hand displayed by the display portion is generated on the basis of image data from one camera, so that only two-dimensional display is possible. Therefore, the user operates the operation switches in the operating portion while looking at the image of the hand that appears as planar as the operation menu image, so that it is difficult to grasp the sense of the distance between an operating switch and the hand. Thus, the operability is not very good.
On the other hand, in the construction of the reflection system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-335510 (JP-A-2005-335510) (a construction in which the user's hand operating the operating portion is shown to the user by mirror), the hand is stereoscopically reflected in the user's eyes, so that the sense of the distance between the operation switch and the hand can easily be grasped, and the operability becomes very good.